Special advocate move 'a smack in the face for survivors like me,' says Kerryman

James Sugrue was boarded out to a family in Kilgarvan as a child, having been placed in the Killarney county home with his two siblings.

A Kerryman who was boarded out to a family as a child but is excluded from the State’s redress scheme has described the recruitment of a special advocate "as another smack in face for survivors like him".

On Thursday, the Department of Children wrote to survivors of different institutions saying it was hiring a Special Advocate to support them.

The email said the remit for the role will be to “to manage and facilitate consultation with survivors of Industrial Schools, Magdalene Laundries, Mother and Baby or County Home Institutions, Reformatory Schools and related institutions to identify and discuss issues of concern to them”.

James Sugrue, 71, from Kerry was boarded out to a family in Kilgarvan as a child, having been placed in the Killarney county home with his two siblings. He has been excluded from the redress scheme as it only covers those who spent time in a mother and baby home and the special advocate’s role will not apply to him.

Speaking to the Irish Examiner, he said: “We were told the boarded out children would get an enhanced medical card, counselling and be part of a memorialisation. How can you put us in a memorial unit when we have not been recognised?

“There is now going to be a special advocate to support survivors across the country, what is that exactly because we have been given nothing? We are not even mentioned again.

“At every turn Minster O’Gorman insults us, when he opens his mouth it is always detrimental to the others.

James Sugrue said: “The Government is simply not listening. All of these announcements are just a smack in the face for me because we are excluded."

“The Government is simply not listening. All of these announcements are just a smack in the face for me because we are excluded.

“I have had no recognition from anyone because I was boarded out. We are not from a mother and baby home, we were three unaccompanied children in a county home who were sent to live with a family who sexually abused us and did whatever they liked.”

The €800m Redress Scheme package announced last year will not apply to illegal adoptees and boarded-out survivors.

James said: “Children did come from different pathways but it’s never been recognised. This is something the government cannot ignore and I’m not giving up on this fight”.